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Placerville - With several high-level planning projects on the horizon, El Dorado County has created a new webpage and scheduled a series of community meetings to gather public feedback.

"Land use planning is a complex recipe of local policies and preferences smashed together with state law and demographic trends," said Kim Kerr, assistant chief administrative officer. "The Board of Supervisors has called for a broad review of how these policies work together, and public involvement is a key ingredient."

The county is in the process of amending various sections of the General Plan, which establishes broad policies for how land can be developed throughout the county's western slope. The amendments to the General Plan are said to be "targeted" because they focus only on policies to better address the development of moderate income housing, the creation of jobs, the loss of tax revenues and the promotion and protection of the agriculture and natural resources. A comprehensive update of the zoning ordinance is also planned.

The county will simultaneously be updating its travel demand mode, which is a tool for analyzing the effects of development on the transportation system and is essential for understanding the value of changes to the General Plan. The county's Traffic Impact Mitigation (TIM) fees are based in part on the travel demand model.

The new website at www.edcgov.us/LandUseUpdate provides background information on each project, key decision points, frequently asked questions, timelines and contact information for comments and questions. It will be updated with new information and public meeting details.

"Our goal is to make it easy for the public to interact on these topics," Kerr said.

A series of community meetings have been scheduled where county staff will present an overview of the various projects, processes, timelines and additional opportunities for public involvement. All meetings will run from 6-9 p.m.

The meeting in South Lake Tahoe will take place March 7, South Lake Tahoe City Council Chambers, 1901 Airport Road, South Lake Tahoe.